Egypt’s ambassador to the UAE, Wael Gad, was the first to cast his ballot in Abu Dhabi, where the crowd danced and sang popular songs, the Emirati artist Hussein Al Jasmi’s song Bushret Khair. Voters came from all across Abu Dhabi, Al Dhafra and Al Ain. There were special buses allocated to transfer those who do not live in the city.

Wael Gad, the Egyptian ambassador to the UAE, is the first to vote at the embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Ahmad Saeed, a 33-year-old voter, said that by noon the number of prospective voters queuing at the embassy had already reached more than 1,000.

“I wasn’t planning on going, but my friends called me in the morning and encouraged me to go. I am glad I participated the atmosphere is quite patriotic,” he said.

Khaled Abdulazeez, a 32-year-old Egyptian media advisor, said he will be voting for Mr Sisi because he has made Egypt more stable and secure in the past four years. “The country needs such leadership that will maintain its security, and in the past four years things have calmed down a lot in Egypt.”

“A number of projects have also taken place and new investment laws,” he added.

His wife Rasha Mohammed, 25, said she was not planning to vote at first because she was confident Mr Sisi will win.

“Today I changed my mind, after I saw everybody participating and celebrating I got encouraged and a patriotic feeling came out, and I felt that I also have a say and I should go and vote. I also voted for Sisi during the first elections.”

Sally Kotb, a 30-year-old legal advisor, went with her parents and brother to vote for Sisi at the consulate in Dubai at around 9:30.

“There were already a lot of people and everybody was happy and they were singing and chanting patriotic statements, it was a beautiful spirit.

Sally Kotb and her brother Ahmed Kotb were voting at the Egyptian consulate in Dubai.

“It was a great experience, and the whole process was properly organised, and it was so smooth it did not take time at all, maybe ten minutes max.”

“There were thousands of people even though we went quite early, and as we were leaving more people started to flock,” she added.

Her mother Salwa Abu Taleb, said it was important for her family to take part in order to show gratitude to Mr Sisi for his accomplishments over the past four years, city housing projects, improvements to health care and security.